Little Green Footballs

Friday, March 05, 2004

LGF only tells half the story - as usual

Another rant against the EU on Charles Johnson's weblog today (http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=10043_EU_UK_Gave_PA_$25_Million): In it he makes it appear as if the evil EU was secretly pumping vast sums of money into a Palestinian organisations whose sole purpose it is to take Israel to the International Tribunal in The Hague because of the Fence.

But Charles fails to mention the following:

"In answer to a parliamentary question in the House of Lords last week, Baroness Amos said: "The purpose of the project was to provide professional legal, technical, policy and communications advice to the PA in preparation for, and during, permanent status negotiations with Israel. Following the breakdown of formal negotiations, the NSU has broadened its role by seeking to encourage the resumption of permanent status negotiations by contributing to a variety of diplomatic peace initiatives."" (From Haaretz)

So, one question to Charles: would he like to see Palestinians negotiate with Israel without adequate resources, unpaid, understaffed, and without international expertise? I expect Charles's answer would be yes, because underlying his high-minded accusations of the EU funding "high-profile legal stunts" is the belief that Palestinians should not be negotiated with, they should be wiped off the face of the Earth.